Career
According to Forbes magazine, he ranks among the richest people in the world, with his estimated wealth being over 2.7 billion United States dollars. Taruta was born in Mariupol in 1955 and was a successful cyclist in his youth. He later claimed that he rode an average of 120 kilometres a day.
He studied at Priazovskiy Derzhavniy Technical University before going on to work at the large Ukrainian metal plant, Azovstal.
On 2 March 2014, amidst the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov appointed Taruta Governor of Donetsk Oblast. On 10 October 2014, President Petro Poroshenko fired Taruta from office, replacing him with Oleksandr Kikhtenko.